The Elections Secretariat has drawn its attention to streamlining the counting of preferential votes at the end of an election.
Expressing views to ITN, Elections Commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya said that the marking of preferences during an election can be decided only through regulations enacted in Parliament. The Elections Department had no authority to take decisions. He said that they are discussing as to what alternatives can be taken in the counting of preferential votes, particularly doing so in a transparent manner and how to erase the doubt in the voter are being discussed.
He said that they are considering the counting of the preferential votes at the polling booths itself or else undertaking the counting of a particular area at a public place such as a school or a technical college. They are also considering whether every candidate can send a representative to such a place.
If the counting is taking place at a main centre, and if there are 35 candidates, all of them can send a representative each. The Elections Chief said that they were discussing these matters at present.
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